UNAIR NEWS – Giant gourami fish is well known to the people of Indonesia.听One of the most popular fish species is not only useful to increase the need for protein but also has a relatively high economic value.听Therefore it is widely cultivated by fish farmers.
Unfortunately, giant gourami fish during cultivation is often attacked by diseases.听The diseases can be caused by a polluted environment or bacterial attack.听Bacteria that often attacks the gourami is听Aeromonas hydrophila,听one type of pathogenic bacteria that causes red spots on the giant gourami fish.
“Red spot disease called听Motile Aeromonas Septicemia听(MAS) causes gourami to be deformed, and can even cause death by 90%.听If it is not dealt with seriously, this problem will affect the losses of farmers, “said Rizky Yanuar Rahmadan, a student of the Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Affairs (FPK) , team leader Student Creativity Program – Exacta Research (PKM-PE).
For this problem, the PKM-PE team is trying to find a solution to the problems by conducting research titled “CICI-KIT听(Chitosan-Citrus paradisi KIT): Innovation of Natural Antibiotics for Aeromonas hydrophila 滨苍蹿别肠迟别诲听Ospreemus gouramy听罢谤别补迟尘别苍迟.听”
Besides Rizky, there are Putra Surya Lesmana and Iklil Saly Akbar.听Under the guidance of听Endang Dewi Masithah, Ir., MP., their research proposal passed the selection and obtained research grant from Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education in PKM 2018.
“We have an alternative solution to deal with this problem by creating an antibiotic innovation called CICI-KIT made from natural materials and also environmentally friendly,” said Rizky Yanuar Rahmadan, as the team leader.
The fourth semester student of FPK also said that the antibiotics commonly used by the fish farmers are not environmentally friendly.听They are made of synthetic materials, and certainly not environmentally friendly.
“The impact of continuous antibiotics will trigger pathogen resistance, so the fish will be more resistant and at some point the antibiotic will not work against the disease.听It can also adversely affect the metabolism of the fish.听Therefore we make CICI-KIT as an antibiotic innovation made from natural material for giant gourami fish, ” said Rizky YR.
Putra Surya Lesmana, a team member explained that CICI-KIT is made from chitosan formulation and grapefruit (听Citrus paradisi听).听Because the materials are completely from the nature, they are easy to obtain.
The reason for choosing chitosan and grapefruit as CICI-KIT’s natural ingredients, Rizky said that chitosan is able to inhibit the growth of bacteria because it has broad spectrum antibacterial activity while the grapefruit has the ability as antibacterial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory.
A series of trials also conducted by Rizky and friends to see the potential of CICI-KIT.听The first is听in vitro听test,听to test听the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration听(MIC), to determine the minimum concentration that can inhibit the growth of bacteria听Aeromonas hydrophila.听Then test the听Minimum Bactericidal Concentration听(MBC) to find out the minimum concentration that can kill the bacteria.
The best formulation of听in vitro test听was then continued by听in vivo听test听on gourami using challenge test to see blood profiles in the form of influence on听erythrocytes听and听leukocytes听.
“We hope this research result can be an alternative to environmentally friendly antibiotics and can be utilized properly by the gourami cultivators,” concluded Rizky at the end of his explanation.听(*)
Editor: Bambang Bes
